The present invention relates to processing financial transactions, and in particular, to systems and methods for correcting, validating, and digitally endorsing deposit images for remote image capture deposits.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
To increase the convenience and speed of using existing and legacy checking systems and checks, many banks and other service providers have implemented various types of remote deposit systems. In such systems, a user can associate a deposit or checking account with a particular remote deposit system. That user can then deposit checks or other physical deposit documents into the associated account without taking or sending the physical document to the financial institution that services the account. Instead of taking the deposit document or sending the deposit document to the physical location of the bank or other financial institution servicing the account, a user need only capture an image of the front and back of the deposit document written to the user or the user's business. Such images of the front and back of the deposit documents are typically captured in a digital format using a scanner or digital camera. The user, or a system or device controlled by the user, can send the digital images of the deposit document directly to a remote deposit processor, or an intermediate entity, via one or more electronic communication media, i.e. the Internet, for processing.
When the remote deposit processor, or other financial transaction processor, such as financial transaction network, receives the images of the deposit document it typically performs various types of image analysis and data processing. For example, to extract any information from the digital image of the deposit document, most systems first perform optical character recognition (OCR) on the deposit document. The OCR converts the data embedded in the image of the deposit document into ASCII or binary code that can be read by a computer system. Typical OCR processes extract the name of the payee, the amount of the payments, the account and routing number information, the date, and any other information that might be printed or written on the front or back of the deposit document. Some remote deposit systems use the same OCR process to detect a signature, while others use a separate module or service to determine whether or not there is a semblance of a valid signature.
Because such remote deposit systems rely heavily, if not solely, on the information they can decipher from the digital image of a deposit document, it is important that the image of the deposit document be in focus and have sufficient resolution and contrast that the information can be accurately determined. However, due to the myriad ways that a user can capture a digital image of a deposit document, i.e. digital camera, scanner, camera phone, etc., the size, resolution, alignment, orientation, and quality of the various deposit document received from various users can vary dramatically.
Even in situations where the deposit document is legitimate, and includes all the requisite information, including a signature, various image quality issues can cause errors in the recognition process that would prevent typical remote deposit systems from deciphering or validating the necessary information from the image of the deposit document. In some remote deposit systems, a color or grayscale image of the deposit document, due to regulatory or system requirements, is converted into a bi-tonal, i.e. black and white digital image, to increase the contrast and to reduce the file size of the image of the deposit document to be stored and sent to other agencies or regulators. When the digital image of the deposit document is converted to a bi-tonal image, some or all the information can be lost. This is particularly problematic in digital images of deposit documents that have low contrast or low-resolution.
When a digital image of a deposit document is received in, or processed into, such a condition that it cannot be deciphered or validated, i.e. the account or routing number is not legible, or a signature cannot be detected, typical remote deposit systems will reject the deposit. Most banks will reject the deposit because the omission of necessary information from the digital image can not only prevent the remote deposit system from properly processing or handling the deposit, it can also be an indication that the deposit document is fraudulent.
A rejection of the deposit causes the deposit document to be returned. A returned deposit document can cause many undesirable consequences. For example, the amount of the deposit document written to the payee will not be deposited into the payee's account. In the case that the deposit is already made to the payee account, the payer's bank and the payee's bank must coordinate to transfer the deposit out of the payee's account back to the payer's account. Not only do such procedures cause delays, they can also costs the payee and the payer and their associated banks money. For example, the person who wrote a check, depending on the type checking account they have, may be assessed a fee for the returned check.
Additionally, a failure of a remote deposit system can lead to user dissatisfaction and mistrust of the system, such that the user will be hesitant to use such a remote deposit system. If users are hesitant to use a remote deposit system due to inconvenience, wasted time, and extra expense, then there is little chance that such a remote deposit system will be successful in the marketplace.
Thus, there is a need for improved handling of issues and exceptions caused by poor quality image capture or image processing in remote deposit systems. The present invention solves these and other problems by providing systems and methods for improved remote deposit image handling and an deposit document image related troubleshooting and administration.